"Usually, yeah, but I don’t feel like fighting right now."
"How’s your dog?"
"He’s still sick."
"Did your folks tell you when they’d be bringing him home?"
I shook my head. "He got better, but then something went wrong and he got sick again. Mom said it was an infection."
"Infections are easy. I had a chest infection last year and I got better."
"I had one of those a few years ago." Relief filtered through me. "You’re right. Infections, they have meds for that."
"They do. Good ones." Kelly reached up and rubbed his nose on the back of his hand. "I hope he gets better."
"I do too." I turned back to look at the kids playing in the water as if nothing had happened. "I’m sorry, Kelly," I continued, my voice quiet. "Everything changed for us, but they’re all acting like nothing did."
Kelly sniffled some more. "Did they hurt you?"
"They were going to."
"I’m glad they didn’t."
"Me too. I wish your mom and dad weren’t hurt. MC’s real nice though. It’s not the same, but…"
"I’m not staying with her."
"You’re not?" I turned to look away from the playing. I could have taken part, but it didn’t seem right.
Everything was wrong at the moment. I didn’t know why, and even worse, I didn’t know how to fix it.
"No. I’m going to stay here for a while."
He rubbed his nose again, and it was gross enough that I pulled out a paper napkin from my pocket. It had ketchup stains on it, but it was better than him using his hand as a handkerchief.
"Here. Use this."
He wiped it. "Your dad fixed it so I wouldn’t go away."
Tugging on my bottom lip, I whispered, "I’m glad. I don’t want to go away, either."
"Why would you? Your mom and dad are alive."
I swallowed. "I-I did something bad."
"What kind of bad? Did you beat someone up again?"
Grimacing, I muttered, "I don’t always beat people up, Kelly." We’d started hanging out in my yard and his since the day we fought at the BBQ here. Playing usually involved games of tag and hide and seek, as well, I’d admit, more fighting.
"You do most of the time. Sarah Jessica’s scared to play with you in case you give her another black eye."
"That was her fault. She called my mom a whore. And anyway, that was in December. That was ages ago."
Kelly grumbled, "People don’t forget. Especially girls."
"True. We have long memories." I squinted out the window and found my target. I didn’t like Sarah Jessica. She hadn’t called Mom a whore again, but that didn’t mean she didn’t look down on me. "I’m glad you’re staying."
"You are?"
Surprised at his shock, I cast him a glance. "You’re the only person I like playing with, Kelly. Duh."
His smile was shaky, but it was real for all that. "I like playing with you too, Cy."
I dipped my chin. "That’s settled then. If you’re here and I’m here all the time, then we can play more. It won’t make up for what happened, but at least we can take your mind off things." I reached over and grabbed his shoulder. "And Kelly, whenever you want, you can cry with me. I won’t make fun and I won’t tell anyone."
The phone in my pocket started ringing before he could reply. I pulled it out as he asked, "Whose phone is that?"
"My mom’s."
"Why do you have it?"
"She’s taking a bath."
"It’s hot out. Why’s she taking a bath?"
"I don’t know. She takes baths when she’s all over the place."
"How is she all over the place? She’s here. At the clubhouse."
I squinted at him. "Don’t be dumb."
"I’m not dumb. What you said makes no sense."
I huffed. "Boys." Then, I eyed the cell and whispered, "I wanted to read her texts but I can’t get into it." The call died, as did the screen that flashed with Rex’s name.
"You don’t know her passcode?"
"Nope."
"Then why did you think you could get into it?"
"She didn’t have one before."
I didn’t want to think about why she’d added a lock to her cell. A part of me was sure they really were going to send me somewhere, but at the same time, we were staying at the clubhouse. She wouldn’t want just anyone being able to open her phone, would she?
When a message popped up on the screen, I caught sight of the first couple lines.
Rex: When you have a second, Keira, I’d like to speak with Cyan.
My brow furrowed. Why would the Prez of West Orange’s chapter want to speak with me?
It rang again and this time, I connected it.
"Rex?" I asked softly.
"Cyan?" His confusion was clear. "Is that you?"
I hummed. "Mom’s in the bathroom. I saw your text."
"Should you be reading her phone?"
"No. I shouldn’t."
"Then why did you?"
"Because I wanted to read her texts."
Rex was silent a second. "I thought you were going to lie."
"Daddy says a brother never lies to his Prez."
A soft laugh sounded down the line. "He’s right. Sisters don’t either."
Pleased, I straightened up. "Nope. And they don’t snitch."
"They surely don’t. Why do you want to read her texts, Cyan? And remember, don’t lie to your Prez."
"You’re not my Prez," I said immediately, even though I knew I was contradicting myself. "Daddy’s my Prez."
"I’m the head of all the chapters. That means you can’t lie to me or your father."
I grunted. "Do you think, sometimes, if you say something out loud that it will come true?"
Kelly’s head nodded swiftly, bobbing up and down like he was high on Kool-Aid.
"No. That’s not how life works."
"I’ve already said it once. If I say it again, maybe it’ll come true for real."
"Tell me what it is. I might be able to ease your fear."
"I wanted to read what Mom was saying to the Posse."
"Why?"
"Because I-I don’t want her to send me away and I think she’d tell them if she was planning on it."
Rex was quiet a second. "Why do you think they’d send you away?"
"Because I did a bad thing."
"I don’t think you did. Not really. I don’t think you did something ideal either. I know your dad’s not alone in thinking that you should have stayed in the safe room, but you didn’t do anything that would make them send you away. And the question is, where do you think they’d send you to?"
I bit my lip. "Azkaban."
Kelly hiccuped. "Azkaban doesn’t exist."
"Maybe somewhere like it for kids does."
He scowled at me. "Harry Potter isn’t real. Azkaban was for bad people too. You’re not bad."